CHINA. 
470 
merchandize', failed in the interim for Japan; and it ap¬ 
peared they were under apprehenfions left commodore 
Weddel ftiould have feized them. Being now out of 
danger, they derided the credulity of the Englifh; and 
confiding in their own ftrength on the fcore of defence, 
lent the Englifh. a peremptory refufal of having any iri- 
tercourfe with them. 
Enraged at this duplicity,-a council of war was holden 
by the commanders of the Englilh (hips, at which it was 
unanimoiifly refolved, to proceed up the river as far as 
Canton. Having reached the caftle above-mentioned, by 
means, of fome interpreters they fell in with, they were 
introduced to fome mandarines ; who promifed, on con¬ 
dition of their remaining on the fpot for fix days, to in¬ 
tercede with the principal men, refident at Canton, for 
the accompliftiment of their wifhes. This was another 
fubterfuge in order to gain time ; for, in the courfe of 
four days, the faid fort, before difmantled, was now fur- 
nilhed with forty-fix pieces of heavy ordnance ; and they 
actually difcharged feveral (hot at one of the veflels as it 
was pafling by, in fearch of a convenient watering place. 
This daftardly conduCt, fuperinduced by the falfe repre¬ 
fen tations of the Portuguele, fo incenfed the Englifh, 
that, as the fame hiftory tells us, they immediately 
hoifted the bloody flag, got under way, anchored within 
mulket-fhot of the forty and, by abrifk and well-direCted 
fire, filenced, in a few hours, this formidable battery. 
They then landed a hundred men, got poffeifion of the 
fortrefs, difmounted the ordnance, hoifted the Britifh 
flagon the walls, let fire to the council houfe, and demo- 
lifhed whatever they could. Having alio feized two or 
three -fmall veflels, they fent a deputation to the viceroy 
of .Canton, complaining of their breach of faith. They 
juftifiecl their proceedings wholly upon that ground ; and 
tin-owing all the odium on the perfidy and intrigues of 
the Portuguele, they efteChd a reconciliation, and ob¬ 
tained the objeCI in view, a licence for a free trade. 
The fefplnte and perlevering -circumftances, however, 
underwhi'ch the Englilh firft get footing in China, mult 
have operated to their difadv'antage, and rendered their 
fituation, for fome time, peculiarly unplealant. Till 
then, the name of their country was unknown ; and 
many contemptuous epithets were thrown upon them 
long after their commercial intercourfe. Of all fo¬ 
reigners, the Englifh were portrayed in the molt unfa¬ 
vourable point of view; their complaints were deemed 
frivolous and vexatious ; and, to prevent their grievances 
from being made known, perfons were forbidden to 
tranflate them. The 1 few Englilh who had acquired as 
much of the Chinefe language as to be able to reprefent 
them, being applied to for that purpofe, rendered them- 
felves obnoxious; and it became dangerous for the na¬ 
tives of Canton to undertake to teach it. And though a 
faftory had now been eftablilhed upwards of a century, 
yet, for want of an afiimilation of manners and habits, 
which'facilitate and invigorate commerce; their mercan¬ 
tile concerns were materially impeded, and expoled to 
•various impofitions. Added to all this, thole ancient 
prejudices to ftrangers, early imbibed, and deeply rooted, 
operating on the minds of the Chinefe, induced them to 
Blue orders that only one port fhould in future be open 
for foreign fhips ; and at a ftated period, every European 
was obliged to embark, or quit the Chinefe territories, 
leaving his faClory and concerns until the return of their 
(hip the next year. This conduft, and thefe meafures, 
it was thought, could never have taken place, but in 
conlcquence of grofs miireprefentations to the emperor 
of China; and, therefore, under this conviction, many 
agents of the Eaft India company, hinted the propriety 
of fending a meflenger to his imperial majefty, in hopes 
that, by a true ftatement of their fituation, he would or¬ 
der a removal of the exifting grievances. Such an 
event, however, was not to be brought about by any of 
the Englilh at Canton; for they were no otherwile 
known than through the deforiptive medium of their ad- 
verfaries or competitors. The fame motives of policy or 
commerce, which had led to the eftablifliment of minil- 
ters at other courts, applied with equal force and propri¬ 
ety to the appointment of one at Pekin. The annual 
amount of the trade between the two countries amount¬ 
ed to feveral. millions- lterling ; and though the two feats 
of government were many thoufand miles apart, yet the 
dependant territories of each ftate approximated within 
two hundred miles of our Eaft Indian territories. It is 
here, however, defer.ving of .notice, that there are many 
petty princes, often hoftile to each other, yet clofely con¬ 
nected with, or dependant on, one or other of thefe twa 
powerful neighbours, who occupy much of the lpace fi- 
tuated between the weftern limits of the Chinefe pro¬ 
vince of Shen-fi, and the eaftern boundary of the Britifh. 
government of Bengal. In the common courfe of events, 
from fuch a relative fituation mult arife difeuflions which 
might, without the intervention of perfons of high rank 
and confidential charadter, lay the bafis of difagreeable 
difputes between the two courts. 
Indeed an accident which only happened at Canton a 
few years fince, had well nigh put a ftop to our further 
trade there. On fome day of rejoicing, in fil ing the 
guns of one of thofe veflels which navigates between the 
Britilh fettlements in India and Canton, but not in the 
employment of the Eaft India company, two Chinefe, in 
a boat lying near the veil'd, in the river of Canton, were 
accidentally killed by the gunner. The crime of murder 
is never pardoned in China. The viceroy of the pro¬ 
vince, fired with indignation at the fuppofed atrocity*, 
demanded the perpetrator of the deed, or the perlon of 
him who ordered it. 1 he event was ftated, in a remon- 
ftrance, to be purely accidental; but the viceroy, fup- 
poiing it to have been done from a wicked dilpolition, 
ltill perlifted in his demand, and to allure himfelf of that 
objeCt, he feized one of the principal lupercargoes. The 
other factories being alarmed, united themlelves with the 
Englilh as in a common caufe, and feemed difpofed tore- 
lift the intentions of the viceroy ; who, on h’s part,, .ar¬ 
ranged his troops on the banks of the river to force a 
compliance. It was at laft deemed expedient, on .-princi¬ 
ples of policy, to give up the gunner, who fell a lkcrilice' 
to this rancorous Ipirit of the viceroy. 
The Englilh -factory tried the experiment of delegat¬ 
ing a meflenger to the court of Pekin ; but he was (top¬ 
ped on the way, and feverely punifhed, for prefuming to 
penetrate to the capital without the emperor’s permiflion. 
Some time after this, a more rational plan was conceived, 
of lending an envoy of rank and authority, with the pre¬ 
vious concurrence of the emperor; and on this million 
colonel Cathcart was, in the year 1787, really difpatched 5, 
but dying on the outward paftage, in the ltraits of Sunda, 
the embaflyof courfe failed. 
The accounts given by moft of thofe who had hitherto 
penetrated into the interior of China, were contradic¬ 
tory and problematical, contributing rather to excite'at¬ 
tention than fatisfy curiofity. They all concurred how¬ 
ever, in alluring, that, in regard to its natural and artifi¬ 
cial productions ; the policy and uniformity of its go¬ 
vernment; the manners and fentiments of the inhabi¬ 
tants, their civil inftitutions, moral maxims, and general 
economy; it prefented, collectively, one of the l'ublimeft 
objeCts for human contemplation, or deep refearch. The 
imaginary danger of admitting a free intercourfe to per¬ 
fons, prone to tumult and immorality, were the obitacles 
railed by the Chinefe government againll the Englilh. It 
appeared that lome of thole who had infinuated them- 
felves as miflionaries into the very heart of the country, 
and had gained accel’s to the court of Pekin, being of 
the Roman catholic perfuafion, had not only taken pains 
to place their own, and all other Roman catholic coun¬ 
tries, in the moft favourable point of view ; but, from jea- 
louly and prejudice on the (core of religion, had fedu- 
loufly endeavoured to reprefent the Englilh as men of no 
faith, and of little principle j and, by pointing out to 
